EFFECTS OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

Volume 1, Issue 1 April 2014

Changes in the Environment

Changes in Precipitation: Precipitation will be directly impacted by changes in atmospheric circulation and increases in water vapor and evaporation associated with warmer temperatures. The amount of precipitation is different from region to region and at different altitudes. Some areas will be dryer than others and other areas will be wetter according to these conditions Example: According to atmospheric circulation, amount of water vapor, evaporation, temperature, region, and altitude region will increase the amount of overall precipitation. Though the magnitude of this increase is uncertain. Sea Level Changes: It has been estimating that sea level could reach roughly to one meter by 2100 and by two meters if Greenland ice sheets melt accelerate. The last 18,000 years, sea level has been rising in response to the melting of glacial ice, mostly from Laurentian and the Scandinavian ice sheets of northern Canada. Rapid changes in the oxygen isotopic composition of skeletal foraminifera and corals shows that the rise wasn't uniform, but rather two several major and several minor pulses of melt water were added to the ocean.Example: Water is alternately taken from or added into the worlds ocean, which could result in sea level oscillation of up to 200 meters. Modern continental glaciers are 1.5 to 2.5 km thick, with a total estimated volume of 33 million km^3. Changes in Global Ice: Snow and ice are important to the climate change to the global climate system, since they both are highly reflective keeping the sunlight that hits the earth going back into space rather than warming the earth. When snow and ice are missing, it affects the heating and cooling of the earth's surface on, influencing the planets energy balance. When temperature changes from warm and cool, it can lead to This will increase sea level and possibly changing the oceans circulation that moves around by its differences in temperature and salinity. Changes in Biota: Changes in physical and chemical parameters described previously are very likely to affect community and ecosystem attributes such as species richness, biodiversity, range, and distribution, and consequently alter the food web. Climate changes in the arctic freshwater ecosystem is based off the rate and magnitude of change in three primary environmental drivers. Which are the timing, magnitude, and duration of the runoff regime from temperature and alterations in water chemistry such as nutrient levels, dissolved oxygen content, and particulate organic matter loadings. Example: Climate changes would probably produce big effects on the biodiversity of freshwater in the Arctic and may change adaptive responses. The magnitude, extent, and duration of the impacts and responses will be system and location dependent, and difficult to separate from other environmental stressors. Proxy Indicators: Ice Cores- It's a cylinder shaped sample of ice that is drilled from the a glacier, that can tell us the changes in climate ranging from seasons to hundreds and thousands of years. Tree Cores- They can tell us what happened in the past, such as droughts and wildfire, through the study of tree ring growth.Ocean Sediment- They tell us sources for information on seabed character and recent sedimentation commonly contains records of environmental change. Coral- They can tell us the changes in climate because if water temperatures gets higher, the zooxanthellae they depend on for some of their food leave their tissue. The corals change to white if they don't if they don't get enough food. Pollen- It can accumulate any undisturbed surface, sediments that contain fossil pollen have been taken from peat bogs, lake beds, alluvial deposits, oceans bottoms and ice cores.

results in big changes across the landscape as snow shrink and grow over time. Example: Snow and ice
influence air temperatures, sea levels, ocean currents, and storm patterns. Greenland and Antarctica have ice sheets that melt off and can add freshwater to the ocean.

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